-Original-

Comparison of Mental Health among Japanese Healthcare Workers at Two Points during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nobuyasu Awano¹, Nene Oyama², Keiko Akiyama², Minoru Inomata¹, Naoyuki Kuse¹, Mari Tone¹, Kohei Takada¹, Yutaka Muto¹, Kazushi Fujimoto¹, Junko Kawakami³, Junko Komatsu⁴ and Takehiro Izumo¹

¹Department of Respiratory Medicine, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan
²Department of Mental Health, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan
³Department of Nursing, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan
⁴Health Care Center, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

Background: The prolonged pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in mental burden among healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to conduct a repeated study to assess changes in psychological concerns among Japanese HCWs.
Methods: This study is the second survey involving HCWs at the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center conducted between November 20, 2020 and December 4, 2020. The degree of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and resilience was assessed using the Japanese versions of the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, respectively.
Results: The survey included 594 HCWs, comprising 95 physicians, 261 nurses, 150 other co-medical staff, and 88 office workers. Among them, 46 (7.7%) and 152 (25.6%) developed moderate-to-severe symptoms of anxiety and depression, respectively. Compared with those in the initial survey conducted 6 months earlier, the resilience score did not change, whereas the anxiety and depression scores improved significantly (P < 0.001, P = 0.033, respectively). However, the frequency of HCWs developing moderate-to-severe symptoms of anxiety or depression did not significantly improve. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that having higher anxiety symptoms was a risk factor for depression symptoms, while older HCWs and those with higher resilience were less likely to develop depression symptoms.
Conclusions: Many HCWs still suffer from psychological concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

J Nippon Med Sch 2022; 89: 328-336

Keywords
anxiety, coronavirus disease 2019, depression, healthcare worker, resilience

Correspondence to
Nobuyasu Awano, MD, PhD, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, 4-1-22 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8935, Japan
awanobu0606@hotmail.co.jp

Received, August 10, 2021
Accepted, October 27, 2021